Danielle Staub Claims Teresa Giudice 'Stabbed' Her with a Fork During 'RHONJ' Season 2 Fight

"I had a fork stabbed and dragged down my back!" Staub said

danielle-staub.jpg
Mike Pont/Getty; J. Kempin/Getty.

Danielle Staub looks back on her rocky relationship Teresa Giudice in a new book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives From the People Who Lived It.

In the tell-all, written by PEOPLE contributor Dave Quinn, Staub, 59, recalls a fight with Giudice, 49, that turned physical during an early season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

The night in question occurred during season 2 of the hit Bravo show, when Staub and Giudice came face-to-face for the first time since their infamous season 1 showdown that ended with a flipped table.

"It was a setup," Staub said. "I didn't want to go. Even my kids didn't want me to go."

"Little did we know that hello would turn into a whole chase, hair pull, cops being called, a broken heel, 911, police sirens," said producer Carlos King. "Madness."

The women had gathered for a fashion show in honor of their friend Kim DePaola's boutique Posche. While everyone seemed to be getting along at first, things quickly took a turn when word spread that Staub called Housewife Jacqueline Laurita's teenage daughter Ashlee a "cokew----."

When Staub went to the bathroom, Giudice waited outside to confront her when she came out. After a few insults were slung between the two — including Giudice calling Staub a "bitch" and Staub making a crack about Giudice's finances — things quickly turned physical.

"I didn't know they'd start physically coming at me after that!" Staub recalled in the book. "I should be able to say what I want to say and not get physically accosted for it."

According to Staub, during the height of the altercation, Giudice "stabbed" her with a fork and Ashlee pulled her hair.

"Teresa took a fork to my back! I had a fork stabbed and dragged down my back! So I stopped running," she claimed. "One of the security guys was holding onto my arm. I remember saying, 'Let go of me — you're holding me back.' This was like Jerry Springer on steroids. Like, these women were dangerous."

"It came as a shock to me that I was allowed to be treated this way," she added.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Giudice's attorney James J. Leonard denied Staub's recollection of events.

"This never happened. It is 100 percent pure fiction," he said. "If it did happen you would have seen it or heard about on the show and not in a book 11 years later."

Danielle Staub
Charles Sykes/Getty Images.

As for why fans didn't see the alleged stabbing, Andy Cohen said: "We don't like it when it gets physical. We tend to cut away from it. We'll show that something happens, but we kind of do flashes on the screen. It was not in keeping with what we want the Housewives to be."

Staub later sued Ashlee, then 18, for assault. In 2010, Ashlee was found guilty in a New Jersey municipal court and ordered to pay a fine of $189.

Staub had also filed complaints against Laurita and Giudice, claiming they cursed and threatened her, which were later dropped.

Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives From the People Who Lived It is out now.

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